LG Hausys will unveil new high-end interior materials at North America’s largest kitchen and bath design trade show, in a move to add fuel to its overseas expansion in the region, officials said Tuesday.

The industrial materials affiliate of LG Group will have an online showroom at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show 2021, a virtual event to run from Tuesday to Friday this week.

The new products comprise of five types of engineered stone materials under the Viatera quartz line and seven mock marble materials under the Hi-macs line.

Some collections have been garnering attention even before their formal release -- Viatera’s Urban Collection which embodies the rough texture of concrete and the Calaccata Collection which expresses the high-end Italian Calaccata marble, according to officials. The Hi-Macs’ Wood Collection was also well received by potential purchasers.

“Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic impact, the construction materials market in the North American region has shifted its operating frame to social media and online marketing,” said Kim Kwang-jin, managing director of LG Hausys America.

“Our sale direction for this year is to push ahead with luxurious new product lines via online channels in order to enhance our brand power in the region.”

The LG affiliate currently accounts for over 20 percent of the acrylic artificial marble market in North America, standing next to No. 1 player DuPont. It also is ranked fourth in the region’s engineered stone material market.

Meanwhile, LG Hausys will be separated from LG Group’s current holding firm LG Corp. this year. The move is part of the group’s decision to establish a new holding company and spin off a number of non-electronics affiliates under the leadership of Koo Bon-joon, who is the uncle of current group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and the younger brother of late Chairman Koo Bon-moo.

Once the plan is approved at the forthcoming shareholders’ meeting in March, the company will be aligned under the new holding company, along with LG International, LG MMA, and Silicon Works.

The group was South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate as of end-2020, with some 137 trillion won ($122.88 billion) in total assets.

(tellme@heraldcorp.com)